English Studies has four broad areas of research strength:

English Literature: As well as offering research experience in all areas of literary studies, from the Renaissance to the present, staff in English have specialisms in Canadian Literature, digital humanities, Scottish writing, animal studies, and literature, culture and place.

Literary Linguistics: Literary Linguistics at Strathclyde involves the application of theories and methods from linguistics to literary texts. In particular, staff and postgraduates are currently researching metrics, computational text analysis, the linguistic encoding of gender, and a range of cognitive processes involved in reading, including metaphor, and spatial representation in texts.

Creative Writing: Creative writing at the University of Strathclyde includes expertise in fiction; creative non-fiction; and poetry. Staff are also involved in publishing – in relation to publishing houses and journals, and in running literary competition (the Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition), as well as in participating in and running creative writing conferences and literary festivals.

Journalism: Journalism research at Strathclyde specialises in the study of politics, representation and ethics in news. Researchers specialise in the influence of mediatisation on political discourse, the dynamic between professional news practices and objectivity, and issues of ethical conduct across investigative journalism and the theory and practice of reporting.